I feel sorry for ljbrs. I truly wish her father hadn't done that to her. I know some very successful women in the physical sciences, including my own daughter with a PhD in Geophysics and the developer of the premiere ENVI software used for image processing. Also, how about Margaret Burbidge a past president of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and observatory director. I think she's a gold medal winner from ASP.
But cheer up. Maybe it's not too late to go back and do it now! Indeed there is a lot politics involved inside University departments, but most of it's not gender based.